Light of Hope
by shizuke
Summary: AU, RikuSora, AxelRoxas, LeonCloud. Even in different circumstances, fate will bring you to me.


Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, Roxas would've had a happier ending. Cry, cry cry.

Warning: Shounen-ai, AU, KH2 spoilers

Pairings: SoraRiku, RoxasAxel, CloudLeon

A/N: Yeah, I was supposed to do my homework but meh.

* * *

**Zapped by a game console, I can't believe it...**

Sora Akashi was bored. Summer vacation was ending and he wasn't too psyched up about going back to school. Needless to say, neither was Roxas Yoishi. Roxas was Sora's best friend since Sora moved to the apartment next to his two years ago.

Sora's parents died in a car crash so he lived alone in an apartment to which his aunt sent money every month. But since he was best friends with Roxas, he moved into the apartment Roxas shared with Cloud, who was a distant relation of his.

Going on looks alone, people would've thought Sora was more of Roxas' relative rather than Cloud. But you now, truth is fickle. Just like fate and luck.

At the moment, Sora and Roxas were playing a game on Roxas' PlayStation 2 and Roxas was kicking Sora's butt as usual. They heard the jingling of keys outside their apartment door. Cloud was home.

Cloud was, by everyone's standard, drop-dead gorgeous. But he was also as cold as an iceberg. You could get frostbite just trying to flirt with him.

"Hi Cloud," greeted Sora. "Did you bring us back anything nice?"

Cloud tossed something towards Sora wordlessly, before shuffling to put the groceries into the fridge. Roxas sidled over to Sora to see what it was. It was a new PS2 game, but there wasn't a picture or even a name in front.

"Hey Cloud, what kind of game is this?" asked Roxas.

"A friend of mine works in a gaming company," answered Cloud from the kitchen. "He knows that I've got two gaming freaks at home so he gave me this beat copy of the game before it's released. He asked me to give it to you guys and ask you what you think of it."

Sora opened the box eagerly. "Awesome! A game that's not even out in the market yet and we get to try it?" He immediately inserted it into the PS2 and waited for the disc to load. Cloud emerged from the kitchen, drinking a soda, and parked himself on the couch in front of the PS2, curious about the game despite himself.

"It's taking a long time to load," commented Roxas offhandedly. He gave the PS2 a hard slap.

"Don't do that!" yelped Sora. "I swear we're going to have to send it for repairs if you keep doing that."

"What? It's just a light tap," defended Roxas.

But it seemed that the light tap did it because the disc finished loading. Music floated out of the speakers and a picture formed on the screen of the television. It showed the name of the game with two options underneath it: 'New Game' and 'Load Game'.

Sora fidgeted. "Is it just me, or is the music a bit sad?" Imagine 'Dearly Beloved' playing.

Roxas and Cloud listened closely to the music. "It's not just you," said Roxas. "Hey Cloud, did you ask what type of game this was?"

"My friend said it was an Action RPG," said Cloud with a shrug. Sora took up the dualshock analog controller and pressed 'New Game'.

After he did so, another three options popped up: 'Single Player', 'Two Players' and 'Three Players'. Roxas raised his eyebrows. "Hey Cloud, why don't you play as well? I got an extra controller here."

Cloud shrugged as if to say he didn't care if he played or not. Roxas took that as a yes and plugged in an extra controller for Cloud. His PS2 has that thingy which allows you to plug up to four controllers. Or at least I think it can…

Sora chose the 'Three Player's option and waited for the game to start. All of a sudden, wild blue electric sparks started to dance around the game console. Sora dropped his controller in fright. "See, Roxas! This is what happens when you keep hitting the console!"

"You two stay back!" ordered Cloud.

It was strange. The sparks kept dancing and even though they didn't touch any of them, Sora, Roxas and Cloud all fainted. It was as if someone clicked a switch on their consciousness, and they all fell like broken marionettes.

* * *

Sora opened his eyes slightly and shut them immediately again. The sun was shining directly on his face. He groaned before realizing with a start; how could the sun be on top of him? He wasn't lying anywhere near the window? And when he popped in the game it was almost nighttime. The game!

The brunette sat up with surprise and scanned his surroundings. He was lying on a beach. And it was morning. Or afternoon. Whichever it was, the sun was scorching. Sora could feel himself burn under this heat. He sprung onto his feet and ran to the nearest shelter, which was a short shady tree with yellow star-shaped fruits.

Where were Roxas and Cloud? He couldn't see them anywhere on the beach.

All he saw was a boy around his age with really tanned skin and orange hair walk along the shore with a blue-striped-white ball. He appeared to be looking for something. Not far behind him were a few people whom Sora assumed to be the orange-haired boy's friend. They, too, looked like they were searching for something.

A boy with bleached blond hair walked up to the orange-haired boy. "I don't see anything, Wakka. What are you trying to pull? It's too hot today for a prank."

"I'm not pulling anything," said Wakka, wringing his hands. "I swear, ya! A moment ago there was this boy with hair that stood up like he was electrified of something like that. He was lying somewhere around here."

It took some time for Sora to realize that the orange-haired boy was talking about him. Judging by his surroundings, Sora guessed that he was on an island. And the islanders didn't seem like bad people so he abandoned his spot under the shady tree to introduce himself to them.

"Hi," he said, tapping Wakka on the shoulder.

Wakka jumped and turned around. "Ah, it's you! The boy with the electrified hair!"

Sora didn't know how to reply to that.

The boy with the bleached blond hair sighed. "Sorry about my friend here. Nice to meet you. I'm Tidus and my tactless friend is Wakka."

"Yeah same here. I'm Sora," replied the brunette.

Behind Tidus, he saw two girls waiting to introduce themselves. The first one was Selphie, who could speak a hundred words per second if she tried. The second one was a pretty one called Kairi whom Sora could say hi to without breaking out in a small blush. She had red hair and really nice eyes that just screamed for you to say, "Will you be my girlfriend?"

"You must be new," said Selphie. "How did you get here?"

Sora started. Yes, how did he get there? Would this people believe that he had been zapped by a video game and for some reason he couldn't explain, was teleported to a beach on an island he didn't know?

To avoid from being thought of as a weirdo, Sora just told them he came by the ferry.

"But there's no ferry which comes to Destiny Islands," said Kairi.

Sora raised both eyebrows. No ferry? Well then, how did people come and leave from this island. "Uh, did I say ferry? I meant uh, boat. I came by boat." Boat? Of all the things he could come up with, he came up with a boat? That was even more unbelievable than a ferry.

"Oh, I see," said Kairi. Her friends nodded in understanding as well. "That's why you were tired enough to just sleep on the beach, right? Destiny Islands is really a long way to row to."

Um…o-okay. So a boat was the correct answer after all…

"So where do you live?" asked Tidus.

Oh shit. "Um, I haven't found a place to stay yet," said Sora, trying to act sheepish to make his lie more convincing.

"No problem," said Wakka. "One of our friends has an empty room in his place, ya. He's been meaning to look for a roommate. You can live with him."

"Y-You sure he'll be okay with that?" asked Sora uncertainly.

"Yeah, we're sure," said Kairi with a sweet smile that made Sora's heart skip a beat.

Wow, these islanders sure were open. Not one to question what he was given, Sora accepted the offer. "So, where is this friend?"

"He's probably hanging out at the drinks shack," said Selphie. "Wanna meet him? Let's go!" And Selphie, with all her hyperactivity, bound off towards the shack. The rest jogged to keep up with her and Sora couldn't help but think that these were a bunch of fun people.

But he couldn't stay here forever. He had to find a map and find out how far this Destiny Islands was from his home. And he hoped his two friends were okay.

* * *

Roxas woke up in the middle of a street in a town. He was found by a blond called Hayner, who dragged him back to a place in the back alley, furnished with comfortable furniture. Hayner thought he had been the loser of some street Struggle fight (whatever Struggle was) and took him back to his 'Usual Spot' so that he could recover.

Roxas thanked him for the concern but assured Hayner and his two friends, Pence and Olette, and he wasn't hurt in any fight. "Would you mind telling me where I am?" asked Roxas, feeling a little stupid.

"Huh? You're in Twilight Town, man," said Hayner. "The bugger must've hit you really hard on the head for you to forget where you are."

Roxas tried, in vain, to explain that he wasn't in some street Struggle fight (whatever the heck Struggle was!)

"Then how come Seifer's strutting around saying he beat the new kid before anyone even saw him?" asked Pence.

"…who the hell is Seifer?" asked Roxas.

"Local jerk with a punkass attitude problem," said Hayner smoothly, not even feeling guilty at the insult. "He acts as though he owns everything in town."

Roxas sat down, trying to recollect his thoughts. It didn't help that there were three pair of eyes staring at him, as though expecting to faint on the spot. Last thing he remembered were electrical sparks. Electrical sparks and a game. Wait, even if he was electrocuted, why was he in some town he had never heard off?

"You look like you're in need of some good sea-salt ice cream," suggested Olette. "We'll go get you some and you know, give you some time to recover by yourself, okay?" Roxas smiled gratefully at Olette before she pulled Hayner and Pence out of the Usual Spot to get some ice cream for Roxas.

Hang on! What ice cream did she say it was? Sea…salt? Nah it can't be. Maybe she said strawberry, or chocolate or something like that. No way it could've been sea salt.

A few moments after they left, Roxas leant back against the armchair. Where were Sora and Cloud? Were they somewhere in this town too? Maybe this Seifer whom Hayner seemed to hate so much picked them up.

"Hey, are you new?"

Roxas jumped slightly in his seat. He thought that there was no one around. He turned to his left. Where there was no one there before now stood a male with wild fiery red hair and piercing green eyes. He had strange markings under his eyes that Roxas didn't bother to question. But he had this mischievous look that made Roxas wary around him.

"I'm Roxas," said the blond. "And you are?"

"Axel," said the redhead casually. He was wearing a strange robe with a hood that was entirely black. "I don't exactly live here but I come terrorize the town now and then. You know, steal some stuff, pull some pranks. That kind of stuff. Never did anything serious here though."

Roxas was confused. Why was this strange redhead telling him all this?

Axel seemed to be thinking the same thing because at that moment he slapped his forehead. "Why am I telling you all this? It must be because of your face. I always get careless around pretty faces!" he accused pointing at Roxas' face.

The poor blond twitched. Did Axel just call him 'pretty'? "I AM NOT PRETTY, YOU REDHEAD FREAK!"

Axel backed away slightly and whistled. "Pretty and with a temper. I like that." Roxas was about to burst into angry yells again when suddenly Axel was all over him, as in he was leaning over Roxas so closely that he left no room for escape. "You wouldn't have a girlfriend, would you?"

"What's it to you?" spat Roxas heatedly.

"Roxas, who are you talking to?" asked Olette appearing at the entrance of the Usual Spot, holding a blue Popsicle in each hand.

It was at that time that Roxas realized Axel had disappeared as quietly as he had come. Maybe this Axel could teleport. Yeah, right! There's no such thing as teleporting. Then again, there was no such thing as being zapped by a game console and ending up in a town which sells blue ice-cream.

Hayner and Pence were licking their cold treat delightfully while Olette handed him his. "Here, it's our treat. Think of it as a welcome to Twilight Town."

Roxas accepted the ice-cream with a thanks. His tongue darted out to taste it but withdrew immediately. They were serious! Sea-salt!

* * *

Cloud was hearing voices he didn't recognize. He felt someone poke his shoulder.

"You think he's dead?" That was a girl's voice. She sounded young, naive even.

"Just leave him alone," replied a cold voice, male this time. "He might be a dangerous psychopath who steals all the milk if you bring him home."

Cloud twitched. He was _not_ a psychopath and neither would he steal someone else's milk. But that sounded very much like what he would say to Roxas and Sora if they found an unconscious man lying on the road and wanted to take him home.

"But we can't just leave him alone," said a third voice, female again. She sounded gentle unlike the previous two.

Tired of just lying on the ground while three people discussed whether or not to help him, Cloud opened his eyes and sat up, brushing dust of his clothes. He saw a young teenage girl with short black hair and curious eyes (she must've been the first voice), and female brunette with long hair tied with a pink ribbon (the third voice) and finally a serious-looking male brunette with a scar running across his face (the arrogant second voice).

The two girls wanted to help him up, worried about his well-being,

"What were you doing lying in the middle of the road?" asked the shorthaired girl.

"Accident," lied Cloud, not knowing what to say other than that. There was no way this bunch of people was going to believe that he had been shocked by a game console and for no reason had ended up in the middle of a street in god-knows-where. "Where is this place?"

"Hollow Bastion," replied the cold brunette, perhaps almost as cold as Cloud himself. "And what business do you have here?"

Cloud didn't feel like answering the impudent brunette, so he turned towards the shorthaired girl. "Hollow Bastion, huh? Is this near Great Britain or something?" Don't ask me why Cloud chose to say Great Britain! I don't know what else to write!

"Great…Britain?" asked the girl. "Is that a new world?"

The long-haired brunette who was wearing pink all over (freaked Cloud a bit even though she looked really beautiful and pink complemented her eye and hair colour, but it's PINK!) shook her head. "I've never heard of it. Is that where you came from? Great Britain?"

"Ah no," said Cloud. "I was just wondering." Ok, these people didn't know where Great Britain was. What the heck was wrong with this picture? Hollow Bastion didn't look like any place he'd ever visited, and he'd done his fair share of traveling before.

He scanned the vicinity. Sora and Roxas were nowhere to be found. "Excuse me, but did you see two boys around this height, with spiky hair, one brunette one blond and with big blue eyes? They're companions of mine," said Cloud.

The two girls shook their heads. Cloud began to worry. What could've happened to them? Had they been whisked off to other places like this Hollow Bastion?

"Hey, before you go on asking questions, shouldn't you at least give us your name?" said the rude brunette.

Cloud scowled at him. He didn't like this man. He didn't like him one bit. He was cold, rude and impassive. What was his problem anyway?

"My name is Cloud. I think I took a wrong turn into your town and I've lost my two companions. There. Enough of an introduction for you?"

The impassive brunette narrowed his eyes. "Leon, Head of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee." (Is he the head?) Now that he mentioned it, Cloud did notice that the place was undergoing some reconstruction. Restoration committee, huh? He wondered what they were trying to restore. It didn't look like it was just the infrastructure.

"Me next! Me next!" said the shorthaired girl waving her arm excitedly. "I'm Yuffie-chan! And this is Aerith," she said beckoning at the girl dressed in full pink and some white. "We're members of the Restoration Committee too along with Cid!"

Cloud nodded in agreement. "Well, thank you. I should be going now. I need to find my companions."

"You're not familiar with this place, are you?" asked Aerith. Cloud shook his head. "Do you have a place to stay?" Again a negative. "Well why don't you come with us? We know Hollow Bastion very well and it's easier for you if we help look for your friends."

Cloud couldn't help but question the generous and kind offer. Yuffie was jumping up and down. "That's a great idea, Aerith! This way we can spend more time with Cloud-kun!"

Whou, wait a minute. They'd just met and already this girl was calling his 'Cloud-_kun_'? And why in the world would they want to spend time with him? Usually his cold aura would send people running from him, except oblivious fangirls of course.

"Hmph, do whatever you want," said Leon, turning his back on Cloud and walking away. Wait, even the bastard wasn't objecting?

"Um, well okay," said Cloud unsurely. "Thank you."

* * *

_Tsuzuku (2 b cont.)_


End file.
